'Cutting the cloth'

The following article by Australia Council CEO Jennifer Bott was published by The Canberra Times on 7 January 2005, and The Age on 12 January 2005.

'Cutting the funding cloth a matter of responding to nation's needs'

Three decades ago, the chairman of the newly structured Australian Council for the Arts, the redoubtable Dr 'Nugget' Coombs, outlined his grand strategy, calling on the Council to 'seek to ensure that, while the best is encouraged and those who produce it are given the greatest opportunity to achieve the highest quality of which they are capable, influences are [also] encouraged which run counter to the Establishment; that the new and experimental get effective opportunities.'

To many, these were lofty and even dangerous ideals, but Nugget's formula of quality, diversity and innovation set the pattern which the Council, as Australia's main arts funding and advisory body, employs to this day. It was also a warning, from a leading public servant and great Australian, not to shy away from new ways of thinking.

Coombs was also a realist. He knew that publicly funded arts were ultimately reliant on proving their value to Australian taxpayers, and that the Council needed to stay effective and relevant to contemporary needs.

Australians now spend $10 billion annually on arts goods; 85 per cent of Australian adults attend cultural events or performances; 78 per cent read for pleasure on most days; and close to 30 per cent of Australia's children are involved in after-school arts activities.

The environment for arts funding is especially dynamic and we need to build in the flexibility to change with it. There are increasing international opportunities for Australian arts, with arts demand in our ageing population growing rapidly, and the arts are making inroads into areas as diverse as education, health and trade. All this builds a grid of new arts stakeholders whose needs must be considered by the Australia Council along with its more traditional areas of focus.

Demand for the arts is growing but, by and large, funding is not. In 2004-05, the Australia Council has a budget of $147.5 million and employs 144 full-time equivalent staff. With these resources we handle about 5000 applications for funding every year -- from these we make nearly 1900 grants.

In a single year, about 40,000 art works are exhibited, performed or written with Australia Council support, including more than 7800 new Australian works. Our Major Performing Arts Board is the principal funder of 29 key companies, from Australia's symphony orchestras to the Bangarra Dance Theatre. Indigenous artists, overseas promotion and community engagement are also funding priorities.

We are faced with other financial pressures. Some Australian states are shifting their arts spending towards infrastructure projects, which results in more demand from artists and arts organisations for Australia Council grants. At the same time, partial indexation is reducing the value of our grants to artists and arts organisations in real terms.

The slippage is ongoing. Seven months ago the Council embarked on a reform process to ensure its structure, processes and funds were being used to maximise its impact and drive arts innovation in this country. We believe the Council can be more effective in meeting the needs of an increasingly diverse and complex arts sector.

We also accepted that the Council couldn't continue to fund more and more projects with smaller and smaller grants. That model helps no-one and is ultimately self-defeating. The proposals of the Council's future planning task force were endorsed by councillors in December 2004 and are now in the public arena.

To reduce what is a substantial plan to the simplest terms, the task force model is designed to get the biggest impact possible for taxpayers' investment. Under these changes, the Australia Council will have to be more than a central funding provider. It will drive improvements in the arts sector by building the capabilities of artists and arts organisations and looking for ways to increase support for the arts from all sources, both government and private. The internal changes include enhanced leadership in our arts boards, increased investment in arts infrastructure, and the dissolution of two boards: the Community Cultural Development Board and the New Media Arts Board.

In both these cases, despite claims to the contrary, we will continue to support the full range of activities and we will maintain our expertise and funding at current levels, with potential for greater funding. A new director of community partnerships will oversee the important area of community cultural development. Not surprisingly, there are early critics of these plans.

With so many stakeholders vying for relatively limited funds, there will unfortunately always be 'winners and losers' in the arts. We will of course incorporate any constructive views into our thinking in the coming months. We also accept that resistance to change is perennial -- like any organisation, we are damned if we do and damned if we don't.

But not to examine our role and structures in a rapidly changing environment would be irresponsible. The Australia Council's last major internal review, in 1996, established an audience and market development division which made great gains for Australian arts at home and overseas. Its $2 million investment in the Australian performing arts market, for example, has generated arts exports worth $30 million dollars.

'Nuggett' Coombs knew the arts were important to Australia's future. They develop qualities, diversity, adaptability, an outward-looking mentality, risk taking and team playing, and innovation -- the building blocks of the new economies shaping the world. The changes we're planning will ensure the Council continues to play a central role in building Australia's unique cultural identity, and a wider embrace of the arts.